Jessie Goetze from Port Douglas is the mother in the video and says she always intended to have a home birth, saying she was “wanting to be in control of my body”.

Jessie Goetze planned a home birth in her bath so she could feel in control of her body. Source: Instagram/ Australian Birth Stories

“This sets you up to have a positive obstetric history,” she said.

“I knew that if I felt safe and supported in a loving environment, that the birth would be easy. And it was — easy and pain-free.”

The video shows her sitting in the bath while her partner helps deliver their new baby. Meanwhile, the family dog is seen getting very curious about all the commotion and pops it’s head right next to the tub.

Doctors have been quick to highlight the risk of home births and the strange decision for mum Jessie Goetze to let her family pet watch. Source:

Obstetrician Dr Michael Gannon was clearly taken aback by the video after claiming it was’dangerous’ and ‘beggared belief’ that someone would promote giving birth in the bathtub next to a family pet, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The idea of homebirths being considered dangerous has further been backed by research in the Medical Journal Of Australiain 2010 that revealed babies delivered in home births were seven times more at risk to die from complications than those born in hospitals.

Coincidence or not, just weeks after her home birth to baby Mahli, mum Jessie posted a photo to her own Instagram account, where she detailed some post-birth complications she went through.

“After such an easy pregnancy and birth little did I know the difficult journey we would be taken on,” she said.

“After 5 weeks of intense pain, pumping every two hours to feed and me being hospitalized after getting a blood infection via my terribly wounded nipple, and seeing many many specialists Mahli was finally diagnosed with tongue, lip and cheek ties.”